In comments reported in Le Monde daily, Mr Allawi said: "The French, like all democratic countries, cannot let themselves be satisfied with adopting a passive position.

"Governments that decide to stay on the defensive will be the next terrorist targets.

"Let me tell you that the French, despite all the noise they are making, [such as] 'We don't want war', will soon have to fight against terrorists," he said, adding that future attacks could happen in French cities as well as in the United States.

The French government, which led the opposition to the US-led war in Iraq, called his comments unacceptable.

"These declarations seem, in effect, to cast doubt on France's determination in the fight against terrorism," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding that France had called for a political solution in Iraq since the start of the crisis.

The French are supposed to be intelligent, educated, and perceptive. Yet the Foreign Minister could not see that casting doubt on France's determination in the fight against terrorism was not only exactly what the Iraqi PM was doing, but that they should perhaps begin to question their own position on that fight.